Electronic Device Display With Extended Active Area

ABSTRACT

An electronic device may be provided with a display. The display may be formed from liquid crystal display pixels, organic light-emitting diode pixels, or other pixels. The display may have an active area that is bordered along at least one edge by an inactive area. The active area contains pixels and displays images. The inactive area does not contain any pixels and does not display images. The inactive area may have a layer of black ink or other masking material to block internal components from view. The active area may have an opening that contains an isolated portion of the inactive area or may contain a recess into which a portion of the inactive area protrudes. An electrical component such as a speaker, camera, light-emitting diode, light sensor, or other electrical device may be mounted in the inactive area in the recess or opening of the active area.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/971,260, filed Oct. 21, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 17/710,687, filed Mar. 31, 2022, now U.S. Pat. No.11,521,579, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/831,577, filed Mar. 26, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,521,577, which isa continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/759,054, filedMar. 9, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,607,573, which is a national stageapplication filed under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of international patentapplication No. PCT/US2016/048754, filed Aug. 25, 2016, which claimspriority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/233,923, filedSep. 28, 2015, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties.

FIELD

This relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly, toelectronic devices with displays.

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices often include displays. For example, cellulartelephones, tablet computers, and laptop computers include displays forpresenting information to users.

The active area of a display contains pixels that display images.Display driver circuits, buttons, cameras, and other components that donot emit light are located in an inactive border region that surroundsthe active area.

If care is not taken, the size of the border of a display may be largerthan desired. For example, when a component such as a camera or buttonis located along the border of a display, the border may need to beenlarged to accommodate the camera or button. This can restrict theamount of display area that is available for presenting visualinformation to a user.

SUMMARY

An electronic device may be provided with a display. The display may beformed from liquid crystal display pixels, organic light-emitting diodepixels, or other pixels. The display may have an active area that isbordered by an inactive area. The active area contains pixels anddisplays images. The inactive area does not contain any pixels and doesnot display images.

The inactive area may have a layer of black ink or other maskingmaterial to block internal components from view. The active area mayhave an opening that contains an isolated inactive area region or maycontain a notch or other recess into which a portion of the inactivearea protrudes. An electrical component such as a speaker, camera,light-emitting diode, light sensor, proximity sensor, strain gauge,magnetic sensor, pressure sensor, force sensor, temperature sensor, orother sensor, button, touch-sensitive component, microphone or otheraudio component, or other electrical device that produces output and/orgathers input, may be mounted in a portion of the inactive area thatprotrudes into the recess or that is located in the opening of theactive area.

The inactive area may have a main region such as a rectangular regionthat displays images and may have one or more extended regions thatextend from the main region. The extended regions may, for example,include first and second elongated rectangular extended regions that liebetween the main rectangular region and the inactive border. The firstand second extended regions may be located on opposing sides of a cameraor other electrical component in a protruding portion or island-shapedportion of the inactive region. Icons or other information may bedisplayed on a black background in the extended regions, giving thedisplay a continuous unbroken appearance.

Further features will be more apparent from the accompanying drawingsand the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device suchas a laptop computer with a display in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device suchas a handheld electronic device with a display in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device suchas a tablet computer, watch, or other portable device with a display inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device suchas a computer display with display structures in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a conventional display.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an illustrative display in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a portion of an illustrative display inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing how an inactive area of a display may havethe shape of an island surrounded by active area in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an illustrative display in which an edge regionof the display contains an inactive area protrusion that extends into anotch in an active area and contains a pair of extended active arearegions on opposing sides of the inactive area protrusion in which iconsand other information may be displayed in accordance with an embodiment.

FIGS. 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 are front views of displays havingillustrative active area and inactive area patterns in accordance withembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Electronic devices may include displays. The displays may be used todisplay images for a user. Illustrative electronic devices that may beprovided with displays are shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4 .

FIG. 1 shows how electronic device 10 may have the shape of a laptopcomputer having upper housing 12A and lower housing 12B with componentssuch as keyboard 16 and touchpad 18. Device 10 may have hinge structures20 that allow upper housing 12A to rotate in directions 22 aboutrotational axis 24 relative to lower housing 12B. Display 14 may bemounted in upper housing 12A. Upper housing 12A, which may sometimesreferred to as a display housing or lid, may be placed in a closedposition by rotating upper housing 12A towards lower housing 12B aboutrotational axis 24.

FIG. 2 shows how electronic device 10 may be a handheld device such as acellular telephone, music player, gaming device, navigation unit, orother compact device. In this type of configuration for device 10,housing 12 may have opposing front and rear surfaces. Display 14 may bemounted on a front face of housing 12. Display 14 may, if desired, haveopenings for components such as button 26. Openings may also be formedin display 14 to accommodate a speaker port (see, e.g., speaker port 28of FIG. 2 ).

FIG. 3 shows how electronic device 10 may be a tablet computer, watch,or other portable device. In electronic device 10 of FIG. 3 , housing 12may have opposing planar front and rear surfaces. Display 14 may bemounted on the front surface of housing 12. As shown in FIG. 3 , display14 may have an opening to accommodate button 26. If desired, button 26may be omitted.

FIG. 4 shows how electronic device 10 may be a display such as a displaywith an embedded computer, a display without an embedded computer, orother suitable equipment for displaying images. With this type ofarrangement, housing 12 for device 10 may be mounted on a supportstructure such as stand 30 or stand 30 may be omitted (e.g., to mountdevice 10 on a wall). Display 14 may be mounted on a front face ofhousing 12.

The illustrative configurations for device 10 that are shown in FIGS. 1,2, 3, and 4 are merely illustrative. The outline of display 14 may berectangular, oval, circular, or other suitable shape. In general,electronic device 10 may be a laptop computer, a computer monitor orother display containing an embedded computer, a tablet computer, acellular telephone, a media player, or other handheld or portableelectronic device, a smaller device such as a wristwatch device, apendant device, a headphone or earpiece device, or other wearable orminiature device, a computer display or other monitor that does notcontain an embedded computer, a gaming device, a navigation device, anembedded system such as a system in which electronic equipment with adisplay is mounted in a kiosk or automobile, equipment that implementsthe functionality of two or more of these devices, or other electronicequipment.

Housing 12 of device 10, which is sometimes referred to as a case, maybe formed of materials such as plastic, glass, ceramics, carbon-fibercomposites and other fiber-based composites, metal (e.g., machinedaluminum, stainless steel, or other metals), other materials, or acombination of these materials. Device 10 may be formed using a unibodyconstruction in which most or all of housing 12 is formed from a singlestructural element (e.g., a piece of machined metal or a piece of moldedplastic) or may be formed from multiple housing structures (e.g., outerhousing structures that have been mounted to internal frame elements orother internal housing structures).

Display 14 may be a touch sensitive display that includes a touch sensoror may be insensitive to touch. Touch sensors for display 14 may beformed from an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes, a resistivetouch array, touch sensor structures based on acoustic touch, opticaltouch, or force-based touch technologies, or other suitable touch sensorcomponents.

Display 14 for device 10 may be a liquid crystal display, an organiclight-emitting diode display, a plasma display, an electrophoreticdisplay, an electrowetting display, a display formed from an array ofcrystalline semiconductor light-emitting diode dies, or a display formedfrom other types of pixels. A display cover layer may cover the surfaceof display 14 or a display layer such as a color filter layer or otherportion of a display may be used as the outermost (or nearly outermost)layer in display 14. The outermost display layer may be formed from atransparent glass sheet, a clear plastic layer, or other transparentmember.

The layers of material that make up display 14 may be mounted in chassisstructures such as a plastic chassis structure and/or a metal chassisstructure to form a display module for mounting in housing 12 and/or thelayers of display 14 may be mounted directly in housing 12 (e.g., bystacking display layers into a recessed portion of housing 12).

Display 14 may have a rectangular shape (i.e., display 14 may have arectangular footprint and a rectangular peripheral edge that runs aroundthe rectangular footprint), may have an oval or circular footprint, ormay have other shapes with curved and/or straight edges. Display 14 maybe planar or may have a curved profile. To help accommodate electricalcomponents along the edges of display 14 without overly reducing thesize of the footprint of display 14, the edges of active area of display14 may be provided with locally recessed portions such as notches and/ordisplay 14 may be provided with isolated inactive areas in whichelectrical components can be mounted.

A top view of a conventional display is shown in FIG. 5 . Display 200 ofFIG. 5 has a rectangular active area AA with four straight edges 202. Arectangular ring-shaped inactive area IA surrounds active area AA. Thewidth W of the upper strip of inactive area IA is sufficiently wide toaccommodate camera 204. However, the width W of this upper strip ofinactive area IA is larger than necessary in regions such as regions 206of the upper strip of inactive area that do not contain camera 204. Thisleads to wasted space.

A top view of an illustrative display with a recessed portion along oneof the edges of its active area is shown in FIG. 6 . As shown in FIG. 6, display 14 may have an array of pixels 122 formed from layers ofmaterial on a substrate such as substrate 36. Substrates such assubstrate 36 may be formed from glass, metal, plastic, ceramic, or othersubstrate materials. Pixels 122 may receive data signals over signalpaths such as data lines D and may receive one or more control signalsover control signal paths such as horizontal control lines G (sometimesreferred to as gate lines, scan lines, emission control lines, etc.).There may be any suitable number of rows and columns of pixels 122 indisplay 14 (e.g., tens or more, hundreds or more, or thousands or more).

Display 14 may be formed from an array of discrete light-emittingdiodes, from electrowetting pixel structures, from electrophoretic pixelstructures, or from other suitable display structures. In organiclight-emitting diode displays, pixels 122 contain respective organiclight-emitting diodes and pixel circuits that control the application ofcurrent to the light-emitting diodes. In liquid crystal displays, pixels122 contain pixel circuits that control the application of signals topixel electrodes that are used for applying controlled amounts ofelectric field to pixel-sized portions of a liquid crystal layer. Thepixel circuits in pixels 122 may contain transistors having gates thatare controlled by control signals such as gate line signals on gatelines G.

Display driver circuitry 120 may be used to control the operation ofpixels 122. Display driver circuitry 120 may be formed from integratedcircuits, thin-film transistor circuits, or other suitable circuitry.Thin-film transistor circuitry may be formed from polysilicon thin-filmtransistors, semiconducting-oxide thin-film transistors such as indiumgallium zinc oxide transistors, or thin-film transistors formed fromother semiconductors. Pixels 122 may have color filter elements or othercolored structures of different colors (e.g., red, green, and blue) toprovide display 14 with the ability to display color images.

Display driver circuitry 120 may include display driver circuits such asdisplay driver circuitry 120A and gate driver circuitry 120B. Displaydriver circuitry 120A may be formed from one or more display driverintegrated circuits and/or thin-film transistor circuitry (e.g., timingcontroller integrated circuits). Gate driver circuitry 120B may beformed from gate driver integrated circuits or may be thin-film“gate-on-array” circuitry. Display driver circuitry 120A of FIG. 6 maycontain communications circuitry for communicating with system controlcircuitry in device 10. This control circuitry may includemicroprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits, memory, andother storage and processing circuitry for generating images to displayon display 14. The control circuitry of device 10 may communicate withdisplay driver circuitry 120A over path 32. Path 32 may be formed fromtraces on a flexible printed circuit or other conductive lines. Duringoperation, the control circuitry of device 10 may supply circuitry 120Awith information on images to be displayed on pixels 122 of active areaAA of display 14.

To display the images on display pixels 122, display driver circuitry120A may supply image data to data lines D while issuing control signalsto supporting display driver circuitry such as gate driver circuitry120B over paths such as paths 38. Path 38 may, for example, includelines for carrying power signals, control signals such as output enablesignals, clock signals, etc. Circuitry 120A may supply these signals togate driver circuitry 120B. Circuitry 120B may be located on one edge ofdisplay 14, on opposing left and right edges of display 14, or elsewherein display 14.

Gate driver circuitry 120B (sometimes referred to as horizontal controlline control circuitry) may control horizontal control lines (gatelines) G using the signals received from path 38 (e.g., power signals,output enable signals, clock signals, etc.). Gate lines G in display 14may each carry a gate line signal or other signal or signals forcontrolling the pixels 122 of a respective row (e.g., to turn ontransistors in pixels 122 when loading data from the data lines intopixel storage capacitors in those pixels from data lines D). Duringoperation, frames of image data may be displayed by asserting a gatesignal on each gate line G in the display in sequence. Shift registercircuitry (e.g., a chain of registers) in gate driver circuitry 120B maybe used in controlling the gate line signals.

Display 14 has an active area AA that contains pixels 122 and thatdisplays images. Display 14 may also have an inactive area IA (sometimesreferred to as a border region) that contains display driver circuitry120 and other components that do not produce images. In someconfigurations, the underside of a display cover layer for display 14 orother layer of display 14 may contain opaque masking material (e.g., alayer of black or white ink, etc.) to hide display driver circuitry andother components in inactive area IA from view from the exterior ofdevice 10. Windows may also be formed in the inactive area of display 14(e.g., to accommodate image sensors, to accommodate ambient lightsensors, proximity sensors, etc.).

In display 14 of FIG. 6 , active area AA has a generally rectangularshape with upper and lower edges and left and right edges. Inactive areaIA may have four generally strip-shaped edge regions (e.g., display 14may have a rectangular ring-shaped inactive border made up of upper andlower inactive area strips and left and right inactive area strips). Toaccommodate components in inactive area IA without overly enlarginginactive area IA (and thereby overly reducing the size of active areaAA), active area AA may be provided with one or more recesses orisolated openings into which part of inactive area IA may extend. Forexample, a notch may be formed in active area AA and a portion ofinactive area IA may protrude into the notch. This protruding portion ofthe inactive area may be used to accommodate a component such as abutton, fingerprint reader, light-emitting diode status indicator,ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, touch sensor, camera (i.e., adigital image sensor), strain gauge, magnetic sensor, pressure sensor,force sensor, temperature sensor, or other sensor, button,touch-sensitive component, microphone or other audio component, or otherelectrical component(s) that produces output and/or receives input.

In the configuration of FIG. 6 , for example, active area AA of display14 may have an upper edge such as edge 132. A recess such as recessedportion 130 may be formed in edge 132. Recessed portion 130 creates anassociated enlarged inwardly protruding region 134 of inactive area IA.Extended inactive areas such as inactive area IA in region 134 may becontiguous with other portions of inactive area IA or may be formed asisolated islands of inactive area IA that are surrounded by active areaAA. In the example of FIG. 6 , inactive area IA in inwardly protrudingarea 134 is contiguous with the horizontal upper strip of inactive areaIA that forms the top border region of display 14.

Due to the presence of inactive area protrusion 134, there is room indisplay 14 for a component such as component 136. Component 136 may be asensor, a light detecting device, an output device, a button, afingerprint reader, an image sensor, or other suitable device. As anexample, component 136 may be an image sensor (camera) that is mountedbehind a camera window. The camera window may include an opening in ablack ink layer and/or unpolarized regions of otherwise polarizedlayer(s) in the layers of material forming display 14. Other light-basedcomponents (e.g., light sensors, light-emitting devices such as one ormore discrete visible-light or infrared light-emitting diodes,light-based proximity sensors, etc.) may also be mounted under a windowin region 134 of inactive area IA. The use of a camera in region 134 ismerely illustrative.

Because region 134 protrudes inwardly into active area AA, the gatelines G (or other horizontal control lines) that would otherwisetraverse region 134 may be truncated, as shown in FIG. 6 . In general,data lines D, control lines such as gate lines G, and/or both data linesand control lines may be routed in a way that accommodates extendedinactive area 134. In the example of FIG. 6 , shortened gate lines Gallow extended portions of active area AA to be present on the left andright sides of inactive region 134. It is therefore not necessary toeliminate entire rows of pixels 122 along the upper edge of active areaAA to accommodate component 136. This maximizes the area consumed byactive area AA.

In the example of FIG. 6 , gate lines G include regular length linesthat extend from gate driver circuitry 120B at the left and right edgeof display 14 to the middle of display 14. Gate lines G also includeshortened lines. The shortened lines extend from gate driver circuitry120B at the left and right edges of display 14 towards the middle ofdisplay 14 as with the regular length lines, but terminate at the edgeof inactive area protrusion 134 so as not to intrude into protrusion134. Data lines D likewise include regular length lines that extend thefull vertical extent of display 14 and shortened data lines such as dataline D′ that terminate at the edge of protrusion 134.

If desired, other data line and gate line layouts may be used to routesignals to pixels 122 without intruding on inactive areas such asprotrusion 134. For example, the illustrative arrangement of FIG. 7shows how gate line signals may be routed vertically to horizontal gatelines G using vertical gate line extensions G′. Gate line extensions G′may each be coupled to gate driver circuitry located along the loweredge of display 14 (as an example). This layout, which reduces oreliminates the need for gate driver circuitry along the left and rightedges of display 14, allows boarders such as the left-hand border region(inactive area IA) for display 14 to be reduced in size. In theillustrative configuration of FIG. 8 , data lines D have folded over endportions DF that allow data lines D to load data into pixels 122 thatwould otherwise be blocked due to the presence of an island of inactivearea IA such as island 1341 or other isolated inactive area. If desired,display driver circuitry may be located in blocks both above and belowislands such as island 1341 (in which case data lines can extenddirectly to pixels 122 from the respective blocks without folding).Other arrangements for routing control line signals, data line signals,and power signals may be used to accommodate inward protrusions ofinactive area (i.e., active area notches or other recesses) and/orislands of inactive area surrounded by active area (i.e., inactive areaformed in isolated openings in the active area). The configurations ofFIGS. 6, 7, and 8 are merely illustrative.

The extended inactive area regions of display 14 may make it difficultor impossible to display a perfect rectangle of image content on display14. Nevertheless, the enhanced amount of active area that is present indisplay 14 can be put to use in displaying other information for a user.

With one illustrative approach, which is illustrated in FIG. 9 , aportion of active area AA (i.e., a main rectangular portion of activearea AA such as main portion AA-M) may be used in displaying arectangular portion of content for the user. Rectangular main portionAA-M of display 14 may, for example, be used to display a rectangularpicture, a rectangular video, a rectangular document containing textand/or graphics, or other rectangular content. Due to the presence ofinactive area protrusion 134, horizontal upper edge 140 of portion AA-Mcannot be extended farther upward without altering its shape.Nevertheless, extended active area regions AA-EL and AA-ER are availableto the left and right of region 134. Regions AA-EL and AA-ER may beelongated rectangular regions (i.e., strip-shaped regions that extendhorizontally). Region AA-EL lies between edge 140 of active area regionAA-M and inner edge 142 of the portion of inactive area IA that extendsalong the upper edge of display 14. Region AA-ER lies between edge 140of active area region AA-M and inner edge 142.

Regions such as extended regions AA-EL and AA-ER may be used to displaycontent such as text, graphics, video, pictures, etc. For example,regions AA-EL and AA-ER may be used to display information such as timeand data information 144 and icons 146. This information may relate tothe general status of device 10 and/or may be related to the contentbeing displayed in area AA-M. For example, information in regions AA-ELand AA-ER may contain status bar information such as battery chargelevel, wireless local area network signal strength information, networkconnectivity information, time information, date information, messagestatus information, display brightness information, media playbackstatus information, etc. If desired, information in regions AA-EL andAA-ER may relate to a document being displayed in region AA-M. Forexample, page count information, word count information, documentmagnification status, line spacing settings, and other statusinformation on a document may be presented. In situations in whichregion AA-M is displaying a video, regions AA-EL and AA-ER may displayrunning time information, time remaining information, playback volumeinformation, media title information, etc.

Information 144 and 146 may be presented on a background such asbackground 148. Background 148 may have any suitable color and/orpattern. If desired, inactive area IA may include a layer of black inkor other opaque masking material to hide internal components under theoutermost layer(s) of display 14 from view. In this type of arrangement,background 148 may be black to match the black color of the inactivearea masking material. Region 134 may also be black (e.g., the undersideof the display layer(s) in region 134 may be coated with black ink) orregion 134 may have a contrasting appearance (e.g., region 134 may beshiny, may be white, may be colored red or other suitable color, etc.).In configurations in which region background 148 is black to match theblack color of region 134, regions AA-EL and AA-ER will have theappearance of being part of an integral strip of active area (andthereby an integral extensions of active area AA-M). The visualinterruption from protrusion 134 will not be visually prominent becausethe black of region 134 will blend with the black of background 148.

If desired, the active area AA of display 14 may have other shapes withislands of inactive area IA (i.e., openings in which inactive area IAhas the shape of an isolated region surrounded by active area AA) and/orrectangular notches or other recesses. In the example of FIG. 10 ,active area AA of display 14 has a rectangular shape with a relativelyshallow rectangular recess 130. FIG. 11 shows how there may be multiplerecesses (e.g., recesses such as rectangular recesses 130-1 and 130-2)in active area AA. In the FIG. 12 configuration, there are recesses ineach of the four corners of active area AA (i.e., recesses 130-1, 130-2,130-3, and 130-4). In FIG. 13 , active area AA has a circular outlineinto which a smooth mousehole-shaped recess 130 has been formed.Rectangular active areas such as rectangular active area AA of FIG. 14may also be provided with curved recesses. Recess 130 of FIG. 14 may, asan example, accommodate button 26. Openings in active area AA such asillustrative opening 1301 of FIG. 14 may be used to accommodate speakersand/or other electrical components.

Inactive area portions such as protrusions 134 may extend into each ofthe openings and other recesses of FIGS. 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 .Moreover, other shapes and layouts for the active area AA and inactivearea IA of display 14 may be used. The examples of FIGS. 10, 11, 12, 13,and 14 are merely illustrative.

In accordance with an embodiment, a display is provided that includes anactive area containing pixels that displays images, and an inactive areawithout pixels that extends along at least a portion of one edge of theactive area, a protruding portion of the inactive area extends into theactive area along the portion of the edge.

In accordance with another embodiment, the active area includes arectangular portion and two rectangular extended regions on opposingsides of the inactive area.

In accordance with another embodiment, the pixels in the active area areconfigured to display icons in the rectangular extended regions.

In accordance with another embodiment, the display includes a camera inthe protruding portion.

In accordance with another embodiment, the display includes anelectrical component in the protruding portion of the inactive area.

In accordance with another embodiment, the electrical component includesan image sensor.

In accordance with another embodiment, the protruding portion includes arectangular portion of the inactive area.

In accordance with another embodiment, the protruding portion of theinactive area has a black masking layer and the active area includes atleast one portion that is adjacent to the protruding portion thatdisplays information on a black background.

In accordance with another embodiment, the active area has a rectangularshape and the protruding portion includes a rectangular portion of theinactive area.

In accordance with another embodiment, the active area has a circularshape.

In accordance with another embodiment, the active area has a rectangularshape and the protruding portion protrudes into at least one corner ofthe rectangular shape.

In accordance with an embodiment, a display is provided that includes anactive area containing pixels that displays images, and an isolatedinactive area without pixels that is formed in an opening in the activearea and that does not display images.

In accordance with another embodiment, the display includes anelectrical component in the isolated inactive area.

In accordance with another embodiment, the electrical component includesa component selected from the group consisting of a speaker, a camera, alight sensor, a discrete light-emitting diode, a proximity sensor, astrain gauge, a force sensor, a temperature sensor, a fingerprintsensor, a button, and a microphone.

In accordance with another embodiment, the pixels include liquid crystaldisplay pixels.

In accordance with another embodiment, the pixels include organiclight-emitting diode pixels.

In accordance with another embodiment, the active area includes datalines and at least some of the data lines have folded ends adjacent tothe isolated inactive area.

In accordance with another embodiment, the active area has a recessedportion into which a protruding inactive area extends.

In accordance with an embodiment, a laptop computer is provided thatincludes a housing having a base and a lid that rotates relative to thebase, a display supported by the lid, the display has an active areacontaining pixels that displays images and has an inactive area thatruns along at least one edge of the active area and the active area hasa recess and the inactive area has a protruding portion that extendsinto the recess, and a camera mounted in the protruding portion of theinactive area.

In accordance with another embodiment, the active area has a mainrectangular region that displays images and has first and secondrectangular extended regions between the main rectangular region and theinactive border and the first and second rectangular extended regionsare on opposing sides of the camera.

In accordance with another embodiment, the first and second rectangularextended regions display icons on a black background while the mainrectangular region displays a rectangular picture.

The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can bemade by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope andspirit of the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may beimplemented individually or in any combination.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: a display having an array of pixels that forms an active area; first and second islands of inactive area in the display, wherein the first and second islands of inactive area are each surrounded by the active area; opaque masking material in the first and second islands of inactive area, wherein the array of pixels is configured to display a black strip that matches the opaque masking material and that extends across the first and second islands of inactive area; and an optical component in the first island of inactive area.
 2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the optical component comprises an infrared light-emitting diode.
 3. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the array of pixels is configured to display an icon on the black strip that conveys media playback information.
 4. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the opaque masking material has an opening in the first island of inactive area.
 5. The electronic device defined in claim 4 wherein the opening is circular.
 6. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising a touch-sensitive component in the second island of inactive area.
 7. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the optical component comprises a visible light camera.
 8. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the display includes data lines and gate lines and wherein at least some of the gate lines are shortened to accommodate the first and second islands of inactive area.
 9. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the display includes data lines and gate lines and wherein at least some of the gate lines are routed around the first and second islands of inactive area.
 10. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the display comprises a polarized layer having an unpolarized region in the first island of inactive area.
 11. An electronic device, comprising: a display having an array of pixels including first and second groups of pixels separated by a gap; opaque masking material in the gap, wherein the opaque masking material has an opening and wherein the first and second groups of pixels are configured to display at least one icon on a black background that surrounds the opening and that matches the opaque masking material; and an optical component aligned with the opening.
 12. The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the display includes data lines and gate lines and wherein at least some of the gate lines are shortened to accommodate the gap.
 13. The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the display includes data lines and gate lines and wherein at least some of the gate lines are routed around the gap.
 14. The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the display comprises a polarized layer having an unpolarized region aligned with the gap. The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the at least one icon conveys media playback information.
 16. An electronic device, comprising: a display having an active area with an array of pixels and having an isolated inactive area without pixels that is surrounded by the active area; an opaque masking material located in the isolated inactive area and having an opening, wherein the array of pixels is configured to display a black background on opposing sides of the opaque masking material such that the opaque masking material blends in with the black background; and an optical component aligned with the opening.
 17. The electronic device defined in claim 16 wherein the black background matches the opaque masking material.
 18. The electronic device defined in claim 16 wherein the optical component is selected from the group consisting of: an infrared light-emitting diode, a light sensor, and a visible light camera.
 19. The electronic device defined in claim 16 wherein the display includes data lines and gate lines and wherein at least some of the gate lines are shortened to accommodate the isolated inactive area.
 20. The electronic device defined in claim 16 wherein the display includes data lines and gate lines and wherein at least some of the gate lines are routed around the isolated inactive area. 